archaic

PageType: HomePage    

/Positional Game

Pyramid Structure for evaluating best plays

Winning, Neutral, and Losing moves

/CreatingPotentialByAddingStonesToAnArea

The Fixed Nature Of Go Vs The Moving Nature Of Go

Probe/TimingAndInnerWorking

DirectionofPlay

Also check out some of the stuff I added to the comments section under the Mirror Go / Discussion page.

Archaic 2d kgs: hmm...i want to create some instructive pages, there are some up top, hopefully i can offer some of the wisdom and technique that i've discovered for myself, as well as explain some key integral concepts and get to the nuts and bolts of go...

Eventually i want to get to completing a downright 'COMPLETE GUIDE TO GO', all the way to dan level, from my viewpoint, i think this would be an interesting contribution since i haven't seen any comprehensive guide (with cohesive guidelines) to get from the ground up to shodan), this would be a large project obviously with many subpages)...

and i will have a page devoted to a general explanation, and some basic truths about the probe.

o by the way, i recently learned to use minor edit sry about that i logged everything to recent changes sry

some known facts about Go (reposted in other sections as tips)

1. My post from the Beginner's study section: It's possible you can reach a certain level of clarity in go, being that you have cleared away most confusion of the basics, as with anything. So keep up the hard work, and it will pay off when you realize you're no longer having brain crashes and your interpretation of the game is at a certain level. It is possible to achieve a certain level in Go (pertaining to skill, which is what defines the amateur expert), do realize that it's not impossible to attain a certain mastery of the game. Go is definitely not an endless tunnel, so don't get discouraged. As long as you are able to continue practicing, you can still make improvement. Study what's most important.

Also try to look at what your opponent does also, so you can learn from him.

Just to list out some real guidelines, what go is about after learning the rules:

a. the basic mechanics such as life&death b. then the overall principles/ideas/concepts/theory in strategy such as positioning in the opening (mirror go is not necessarily a special topic, just a strategic technique) c. concrete analysis of sequences etc. where-in ideas come to life

Lastly, keep in mind there are exactly 4 different types of moves in Go and this is the order in which you should play them in regards to importance: namely,

a. a general and principled move (based on positioning) b. a specialized strategic move which is what most people teach. c. a very basic move that isn't listed in any particular book but is a technical move which serves to expand your territory or capture stones. d. And obviously, there is also the last move which is to copy your opponent's move, but this is more special than anything.

2. don't just focus on local reading, be aware of whether your moves are good for the whole board in the opening.

3. With mirror go (the opponent copies your moves), it is some times easy to over-analyze and confuse yourself into thinking mirror go is hard to figure out. But, don't overlook the fact that it *might be* possible to play naturally and figure out a way yourself to break the person copying your move in a live game without having to over-analyze. For example, somebody told me that more often than not for amateurs at the very least, settling the rest of the board in the opening first before swirling to the center as black and using tengen to create a winning conflict can overcome the komi that white begins with. On the flipside doing so with white and then attaching to tengen to create a conflict works as well *even* if white does not have komi such as back in ancient times. This credit goes to a 5d-6d player on kgs. It may or may not be correct.

  • As a side note, i've looked up various ways for black to hard-counter (break apart from copying his moves) white, but it is more difficult for white to hard-counter black because of the lack of the unique center point. But, white has 6.5 komi so it usually does not matter. Still, I am trying to figure out how white was able to shake black off in ancient days when komi did not exist. White would either have had to resort to a draw, or find a clever way without damaging himself in the process.

Also, mirror go is only limited if you think about it and does not work in theory, the general purpose is to copy the opponent's moves in an attempt to score a rather even game, or wait until he makes a mistake and you break off to get the lead as a sort of imitation/copycat/annoyance technique. Eventually though at a certain point, Go probably eventually becomes more about general strategy and not about mirror go other than the possibility that for pros white can use komi to his advantage. This is because it does not make sense for mirror go to have the utmost importance in Go or be the ultimate strategy. Black does not do mirror go for the sole reason that there is no reason to :/ other than copy moves hoping to catch a mistake and break off, but white has komi and also the above-mentioned tengen attach after settling the empty board first which is disadvantageous to him. But, as is obvious, due to initiative and sente the mirrorer is naturally at a disadvantage.

4. On moyos in general: moyos are worth more than territory, despite appearances, due to density. For example, take a 5x5 square in the upper left corner of the board and compare it with an entire one-line, thin strip of territory on the right side of the board. It's 25 points compared with 19, so looks can be deceiving. This exaggeration and deceiving appearance sometimes becomes increasingly larger in some games.

5. *joke section* About Reducing Moyos prematurely: If it's an open moyo (1 wall) you can reduce directly even though it seems bad, if it's a concave moyo with only one path of reduction (one-way entry), don't plant a stone randomly otherwise he'll chase you along a straight line or diagonally into the edge of the board on both sides while expanding exponentially or even cap you from the outside or perhaps indirectly pressure you in late-game, whereas with the open space one you have a chance to expand, while defending his late-game indirect pressure.

If you're surrounded by 3 walls (concave) and you plant a reduction stone on the sector line and he caps you you will have to move out diagonally followed by keima (knight's move flexible) attacks, same as if he attacks from either side with one-space jumps (ikken tobi) you cannot expand horizontally in relation to your other stones, with 2 wall he attacks you from one side you can still build horizontally in relation to his and your stones, it's influence vectors.

To sum it all up, do not prematurely reduce a moyo if you are surrounded by 3 walls because you cannot then build horizontally in relation to your stones on the sides of the board (blocked by walls on both sides), and you can only run in a straight line vertically and link up while having no room for eye-space or center territory. Only prematurely reduce if it's a more open moyo.

Vector: a quantity possessing both magnitude and direction, represented by an arrow the direction of which indicates the direction of the quantity and the length of which is proportional to the magnitude. So for example, you expand his influence in a direction where it makes his moyo 1 point longer in a straight line, for magnitude perhaps it's about...expanding it in square exponentially. Influence vectors might be something found in SL. Also remember to take into account attacks and analyze risk.

6. With the spirit of the black and white stones at hand, in theory, while holding black stones as a player you should retain "sente" or first-move advantage all the way through to the end in order to take all the big territory points while playing a territorial game, in which case you can balance out the komi or compensation points that white receives. While playing as white if black plays overly aggressive then he can merely play for territory and use komi to his advantage. However, black can use his first move to his advantage by forming a "moyo", or framework as found in common openings. This combines high density territory (much more so than regular territory) and also attacking power in general if white chooses to invade or reduce his area too early before settling the rest of the board as an example. Therefore in accordance with the spirit of white stones, white should find alternate ways around this and counter accordingly.


archaic last edited by 2.86.159.61 on August 21, 2023 - 05:56
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